A Kindness Repaid

by Cathy S. Mosley

In a time well past...or a time yet to come......

There was a young woodsman, who, at harvest time, had just become the
proud father of a bouncing son. All had been well then - for that was
harvest time and food and work were plentiful; nor was he a foolish man,
and he had made sure to put stores away for his family. But Winter had
come hard and fast, and by late December he and his kin were wanting,
and he had to go farther and farther into the forest.

Which is how he came to be trudging home late one eve - with the stars
twinkling crisply overhead and the thick snow crunching loudly beneath his
boots. The woodsman's head was bowed against the cutting cold and his arms
were laden with the wood he had cut and collected during the day.

He heard something.....or thought he did....something like the baying of
hounds?.... Or wolves....?

The woodsman wanted to run but he knew the snow was too deep, and that
preternatural baying was nearing swiftly. He dropped his precious wood,
chose one stout stick and prepared to fight; though he felt more like
praying so eerie was the howling.

A wind as cold as a giant's cruel breath swept over him and he watched in
terror as great, black hounds raced past. But these were only the out
runners - following them was a sled pulled by similar hounds, and at the
reins stood a tall woman, garbed in white fur, with hair of silver, and
following this fantastic sled were capering, glowing children and
shimmering spirits of the wood. The young woodsman's mouth gaped open, for
he knew he was seeing Frau Wode - a guardian of Winter, the Innocent, and
the Wood, and he wondered if he would live to see the dawn. The eldritch
host swept past him and around him, and the woodsman's heart threatened to
burst in terror.

At the end of the train stumbled one glowing little boy, who was tripping
over the hem of his gleaming robes. And in that moment the woodsman was no
longer afraid - for who could fear such innocence? He pulled off his own
belt, and after kneeling before the lad, he said, "Here, let me put this
around you....So you can go and play with your fellows."

The innocent soul smiled - the smile from a dream, and lightly touched the
man's hand; then, with a peel of chiming laughter, ran after the other
spirit children.

All was silent on that crisp night and the woodsman rose from the deep
snow....

And found himself looking up at the sled, and at Frau Wode.

Her smile was as beautiful as Hope and her voice like the song of angels
when she said, "For your kindness neither you, nor your family, nor your
children's children, will ever want...." And once more she urged her sled
forward - following her Hounds as they brought Prosperity to any home
that would welcome them to a warm hearth.

This story is an original piece and combines several northern traditions;
however, this tale is offered to all who wish to tell it.

Throughout the northern lands there were many Winter ladies .....

Bertha, who watched over the spirits of unborn children and the souls of
unbaptized babes, was also known to oversee agriculture and spinning.
During the twelve nights between Christmas and New Year's she would travel
from house to house in order to inspect the state of the spinning therein.

Frau Wode traveled other parts of Germany, leading the Wild Hunt, but
unlike her male counterparts she did not herald the cold breath of Death.
The baying of her spirit hounds meant Prosperity as they sought any home
that would welcome them with hospitality; nor did she gather the souls of
the dead on her travels, but let the little souls she protected play in
the snow as she traveled the countryside.

She is Huldra in Scandinavia and attended by wood-nymphs, who are called
the Huldra Folk; these lovely women were considered to be protectors of
the mountain woods, and were said to have beautiful singing voices. The
only way to tell if a lovely lass was one of the Huldra Folk was if she
accidentally revealed her cow's tail.

Dame Holle is called "Mother Winter" in Germany, and her story was made
famous by the Brothers Grimm. It was said that when she shook her quilt
the snow would fall, and when she hung her laundry out to dry that the
sheets could be seen as fluffy clouds.

Guerber, H. A.. Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas. New
York. Dover Publications, Inc.. 1992.